Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of communications, and, more particularly, to packet collisions and impulsive noise in data communications.
Different types and levels of noise can be introduced in data communications along different media (e.g., power lines). This noise can be measured by a receiver that is receiving the data communications. For example, the receiver can measure the Signal-To-Noise Ratio (SNR) of the data communications. This SNR information can be used to dynamically adjust the tone map in order to optimize performance and track changing channel conditions for the particular media.
Packet collisions, impulsive noise, and non-impulsive noise can result in a lowering of the SNR of the data communications. Packet collisions can occur when more than one transmitter transmits a data packet at essentially the same time on shared media. This results in two packets colliding with each other, thereby causing errors in the data communications of these packets. Impulsive noise can include a sudden high power burst in the time domain. The duration of this impulsive noise can vary from a few microseconds to a number of milliseconds. Also, impulsive noise may or may not be periodic. In contrast, non-impulsive noise can have peaks and valleys in the frequency domain and generally does not exhibit sudden bursts in the time domain (as described for the impulsive noise). In response to detecting any of one of packet collisions, impulsive noise, or non-impulsive noise, conventional approaches typically lower the rate of the data communications in order to increase the SNR of the data communications.